It wouldn’t be accurate to say 2010 was a outstanding year for LGBT Music, but rather it was a year with a strong showing for the LGBT artists, at best. The end of the year does bring some very high notes, including Adam Lambert, The Cast Of Glee, Lady Gaga and Sir Elton John, who are all getting nods for The Grammys this year. On the sour note, of course, we as the LGBT Community once again failed to award our artists as we should have, with the cancellation or “postponement” of the Out Music Awards Show which was originally scheduled to have taken place on December 1. The organizers of the Out Music Awards have said the award show is merely a postponement, but as of now we have nothing more than a “promise” of a spring show, with no date set as of this writing. This is not fair to all of the LGBT artists who deserve recognition and praise from our community!
LGBT artists who show their strength as mainstream artists are consistently ignored by the mainstream media, even though they continue to rank on the charts in both the U.S. and the UK. If you ask any average LGBT person out there, they would not be able to tell you who many of these artists are, yet they dance to their music in every club around the globe, in and out of the gay scene, from Florida to California to London and Italy. Names like Ray Boltz, Scissor Sisters, Rashan Houston, HiTPLAY, Brian Kent, Jason Walker, Terry Christopher, Dan Manjovi, Levi Kreis, Nhojj, Jess O, Dylan Rice, Fall Away and Backseat Bordello are not very well known to the gay community despite every one of those artists named above gracing Billboards #1 slot as well as a majority claiming both the UK Dance Charts #1 and the EU’s #1 slots. If we as a community can not or will not support those artists by buying or listening to their songs, then we as the LGBT community have failed them and ourselves.
We hear them at PRIDE events and other LGBT events, but do you hear them in your car radio? On your iPod? On your phone as a ringtone? Most LGBT listeners get their music the same way as the rest of the world, they buy the CD, purchase from iTunes, Amazon or buy a CD from a favorite DJ like me. Did you know that most LGBT artists are forced to be indie (Independent, Non Major Label signed) artists because they have the courage and valor to stand up and say they are LGBT, but are still to this very day shunned by major labels. Not because their music isn’t good enough, but because they are gay. So they turn to their community for support and to help encourage them in their love of music and their love of their community.
I am sure you have a special song for your other half, just as I am sure that it is either a man singing about the love and devotion he will give to a woman or vise versa. This year we saw in a episode of Glee on more than one occasion two male duets, with a love song and a seductive Christmas song, as well as a group song with the male lead looking right into the eyes of his male admirer. Wouldn’t it be great if we could walk into a FYI or Borders or Music Outlet and go to the LGBT Section and get that brand new CD from that artist you just saw on VH1 or MTV, singing her heart out for the woman she loves, or a goth rock one where the lead guy is smashing a picture of the ex-boyfriend on the dresser? Yes, the world would be grand indeed.
This year we saw smash hits by Jason Walker, Brian Kent, HiTPLAY, Jill Knight and Ray Boltz. We saw hit producers like Rachael Sage, Kid Akimbo and David Sought come to the spotlight as their productions went to mainstream media outlets like SONY and Pixar and Disney. We even have seen this year a few break into other great adventures. Elijah Black will be in a movie production coming in 2011, JoJo and SeanyP of HiTPLAY made it to “Worlds Worst Drivers” TV show and yours truly has a track on an EA Game out in 2011. Despite this, mainstream media continues to ignore the LGBT community’s gifted and talented. Even worse, in 2010, so did the LGBT community. If we do not go and get the CD or the song or even bother to request that FM Stations play these artists then mainstream media will continue to ignore our talented artists.
You want to know where to hear the best in LGBT music? That’s simple, with Internet capable phones and wifi everywhere, LGBT Radio stations are making a BIG BANG in the listener world. Outradio.com, Qnation.Fm, Bearradionetwork.com, GIRLradio.com (Gay Internet Radio Live) as well as many different LGBT music blogs can introduce you to every genre of music that your earbuds can handle. Most feature 24-hour broadcasting, live shows, talk shows, live mix shows, club feature shows as well as a gambit of other shows from jazz to inspirational can be found. All you have to do is look and listen to how good the sound of LGBT can be. Top Artists of 2010- all of them!
This is DJ Shane Phoenix, wishing you a good today, a better tomorrow and a great new year.
